A Senate Race Riding on Cash Flow

By JENNIFER MEDINA

Published: October 29, 2006

While Senator Joseph I. Lieberman may have lost the Democratic primary to a novice politician, his bid in the general election has come with all the financial advantages of a major party candidate and an 18-year incumbent.

Meanwhile, his financial prowess has prompted his opponent, Ned Lamont, to dig deeper into his pockets, putting $12.7 million into the campaign so far.

Mr. Lieberman, who has run for national office twice, has tapped into millions of dollars from the networks of major Republican and Democratic donors, as well as from business groups and lobbyists who have rallied around him, and several out-of-state independent groups who do not coordinate directly with the campaign.

The hotly contested Senate race has quickly become the most expensive in the state's history, with Mr. Lieberman spending $11.5 million and Mr. Lamont spending $8.6 million through the end of September.

And there is no sign of slowing down. There have been fund-raising meals for Mr. Lieberman several times a week. Mr. Lamont, a cable executive from Greenwich, Conn., has twice contributed $2 million to his campaign in the last two weeks. Late Friday, the Lamont campaign said that he would lend an additional $2 million toward the election effort.

Mr. Lieberman, who has kept up a brisk fund-raising schedule since losing the primary in August, has been able to deftly use his experience and career ties all over the county at a time that he needs it most to battle for his seat in the Senate. At the same time Mr. Lamont, who hoped for considerable financial support from major Democratic donors, has struggled somewhat to match Mr. Lieberman's resources.

In August, Mr. Lamont's advisers said they expected to spend roughly $6 million in the general election, but that number was quickly eclipsed. Mr. Lieberman raised that amount in just more than a month, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. He has raised a total of $14.8 million, another record for a campaign in this state.

Advisers to Mr. Lamont say they made a decision not to focus on fund-raising efforts, using the events more as political rallies.

Last week, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton played host to a fund-raiser for Mr. Lamont at a home on the Upper East Side. Earlier this year, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV played host to an event on Mr. Lamont's behalf.

The campaign has also worked with Mr. Lamont's longtime friends in Greenwich to organize a ''Republicans for Lamont'' fund-raiser.

As of the end of September, roughly 70 percent of Mr. Lamont's money has come from his own pocket.

Filings show there are far more Republican donors rallying to the side of Mr. Lieberman, who has crisscrossed the country and raised about $5 million since losing the primary, campaign finance records show.

Prominent Republican donors listed in Mr. Lieberman's campaign filings are Joseph Allbaugh, one of President Bush's close advisers during the 2000 campaign, and Don Nickles, the former assistant leader in the Senate. Several outside groups, known as 527s, have also rallied to Mr. Lieberman's side.

The Connecticut Issues Project, which is sending out mailings praising Mr. Lieberman for his work on the submarine base in Connecticut, is being financed largely by out-of-state donors who typically give to Republicans. The Free Enterprise Fund, which is running ads against Democrats in several other states, has also run television ads criticizing Mr. Lamont's business.

Each campaign has tried to use the source of financing as a line of attack, with the Lieberman campaign accusing Mr. Lamont of trying to buy the election, while the Lamont campaign has said Mr. Lieberman's support from prominent Republicans is a sign that he is too chummy with the White House.

The latest sparks came early this week, when the Lamont campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission about nearly $380,000 the Lieberman campaign listed as ''petty cash'' to pay for volunteers in the final two weeks of the primary. Tammy Sun, a spokeswoman for Mr. Lieberman, said the money was used to pay for young workers used in the field operation in the last days of the campaign.

By law, a campaign must keep a journal of petty cash payments of less than $100, but it is not required to make the contents of the journal public. Ms. Sun declined to allow reporters to examine the journal, saying there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Several campaign finance experts said that while the expenditure was an unusually large sum of money to be listed as petty cash, it would be legal as long as each of the payments was less than $100.

Photos: While Ned Lamont, left, has had to dig deeper into his pockets to finance his campaign, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman has tapped into millions of dollars from both Republican and Democratic donors. (Photo by Justin Lane/ European Pressphoto Agency); (Photo by Douglas Healey/Bloomberg News)